With thousands of Westerners joining ISIS, visa waiver program puts U.S. at risk: Lawmakers

With thousands of Westerners joining ISIS, visa waiver program puts U.S. at risk: Lawmakers

Published 16 March 2015

Security concerns are threatening the 1986 visa waiver program (VWP), which allows millions of people with (mostly) Western passports to travel to the United States for ninety days without a visa. Lawmakers argue that the program, which applies to citizens of thirty-eight countries, has created a security weakness that terrorist groups, specifically the Islamic State (ISIS), could exploit. Thousands of European citizens have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. Security officials fear that many of them could return back to Europe, then board a U.S.-bound flight with the intent of launching an attack on American soil.

Security concerns are threatening the 1986 visa waiver program (VWP), which allows millions of people with (mostly) Western passports to travel to the United States for ninety days without a visa. Lawmakers argue that the program, which applies to citizens of thirty-eight countries, has created a security weakness that terrorist groups, specifically the Islamic State (ISIS), could exploit. Thousands of European citizens have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. Security officials fear that many of them could return back to Europe, then board a U.S.-bound flight with the intent of launching an attack on American soil.
“The recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Brussels and Copenhagen, as well as the more than 3,400 western foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, remind us of the importance of constantly assessing trusted traveler programs to address potential vulnerabilities,” said Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chairman, during a hearing last week.
“We should work diligently with our foreign partners to continually refine the program to ensure full compliance with membership requirements and ensure VWP travelers are fully vetted,” Johnson continued. “Doing so will ensure that the VWP will remain a viable trusted traveler program that provides many benefits to Americans while benefiting U.S. security.”
According to the Hill, U.S. travel groups have criticized efforts to limit the VWP, warning that doing so would dampen the nation’s economy. “The Visa Waiver Program brings millions of travelers to the United States annually and pumps billions of dollars into our economy,” Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Executive Director Michael McCormick said after the Senate hearing. “By facilitating travel and trade with 38 countries, the VWP spurs job creation and economic growth,” he continued. “The Visa Waiver Program positively impacts business travel, which accounted for an estimated $1.2 trillion dollars in global spending last year.”
Prior to threats from ISIS, Congress had proposed through the 2013 Jobs Originated through Launching Travel (JOLT) Act (H.R. 1354), expanding the VWP to include more countries. Tourism groups have pushed for adding Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Israel, Panama, Poland, Romania, and Uruguay to the program.
According to the U.S. Travel Association, the measure would “leverage the benefits of inbound international travel to the United States to increase economic growth, create more jobs, generate additional tax revenue and boost U.S. exports.” The association added that expanding the visa waiver program to more countries would increase U.S. tourism by 600,000 visitors and add $7 billion and 40,000 jobs to the U.S. economy.
Despite the economic benefits, lawmakers are concerned with security risks the program poses. “Congress and the Department of Homeland Security have worked hard to balance the natural tension in the Visa Waiver Program between the need to facilitate international travel and the need to keep Americans safe from the evolving terrorist threats,” said Senator Tom Carper (D-Delaware).
“With that said, the threats that we face from terrorists have evolved during the life of the Visa Waiver Program,” Carper continued. “When the Visa Waiver Program was enhanced in 2007, the preeminent threat to the homeland was from al-Qaeda’s central branch led by Osama bin Laden. Today, bin Laden is no more. Al-Qaeda’s core branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been severely weakened. But in their place, al-Qaeda splinter groups in the Middle East and Africa have arisen and adopted new tactics that pose new threats for our country.”
Expanding the VWP has some support from former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. “While some have raised questions about the security value of the program and whether it should be scaled back, I firmly believe that any withdrawal or departure from the Visa Waiver Program would be a huge mistake,” Chertoff, who served in the George W. Bush administration, told the panel at last week’s hearing. “Constructed in a way to powerfully reduce vulnerabilities in our immigration and travel system, it is my belief that the Visa Waiver Program offers significant benefits to U.S. national and economic security and should not be pulled back in a time like this but further evaluated for ways that can strengthen our security and the benefits it may yield,” Chertoff added.